


Flipped

by Excelsia



Category: VIXX
Genre: M/M, flipped au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-21 19:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8257156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Excelsia/pseuds/Excelsia
Summary: From the day the Han family moved in across the street from the Jungs, Taekwoon had been plagued by their annoying son until he finally started college. Though when Sanghyuk shows up at the university team's soccer practice one day, something feels different.An AU inspired by the book/film "Flipped"





	

**Author's Note:**

> I might possibly try to continue this sometime. I feel like it's not finished (but I just needed to get this part out of my system at least).

Taekwoon recognized him right away, even from across the field. He was a lot taller now, but his posture and gait were unmistakeable. 

He kept an eye on the approaching figures as he fished a water bottle out of his duffel bag on the bleachers.

“Ah, Sanghyuk and Hongbin are here,” said Wonshik from somewhere beside him. He recognized Hongbin by name; they’d had a couple classes together at university, and even back in high school too. 

Sanghyuk, though. Sanghyuk, he knew. He generally wished he didn’t, but it was hard not to know someone who lived across the street from you basically your entire life until college.

~~~  
“Look, they have a son too! That’ll be nice, someone new for you to play with. Right, Woonie?” his mother had said, her arm around his shoulder as they watched their new neighbors unload boxes from the moving van. Taekwoon was nine then, and he stared with narrowed eyes at these new strangers. 

A little boy who looked to be around five or six years old zoomed back and forth across the yard, “helping” his parents bring stuff into the house; they would just give him something he could carry from one of the boxes and let him take it inside. The boy wore a soccer uniform, not unlike the one Taekwoon was currently wearing (he’d been intercepted by his mom to observe the new neighbors while on the way to practice).

“Look at his uniform, isn’t that cute? You two can play soccer together!” Taekwoon’s mother smiled down tentatively at him. He looked back at her, his face stoic except for the tiniest trace of discomfort that only his mother could readily detect. 

“At the very least don’t ignore them if they say hi to you,” she said knowingly, patting him on the shoulder before letting him go to practice.

He didn’t, politely greeting the family when they caught him on the way home from Hakyeon’s house the next day. When Taekwoon approached them, the little boy stopped playing and hid behind his mother, peeking out tentatively at the tall, scary stranger.

“Ah, so you’re the Taekwoonie we’ve been hearing about!” said the boy’s father, reaching out to grab Taekwoon’s hand and shake it. “We were just talking to your mother this morning, such a sweet lady. Hyogie, don’t be silly, come out here and meet our new neighbor Taekwoon!”

Small, wide eyes glanced up at Taekwoon, but retreated back to safety once they were met by a cold stare. Taekwoon sighed.

“He...likes soccer, right?” He regretted the question before he even finished asking it. At the word “soccer” the boy flew out from behind his mother, jumping up and down in front of Taekwoon. Just looking at him made Taekwoon feel uncomfortable and exhausted. Yup, he definitely regretted asking. And he regretted it even more on the morning of the first day of school that year, when he realized that he was in for some long-term suffering.

“Daeguni!”

If the pitter-patter of running footsteps and the sound of a bouncing, oversized and overfilled backpack weren’t enough, it was the nickname that made Taekwoon slouch into his jacket every time he heard it, hoping it would swallow him whole.

“Daeguni?” Hakyeon had asked when he heard it. He glanced over his shoulder at the little kid sprinting toward them as they walked to school, so fast it seemed like he’d trip and fall at any moment. “Who’s this?” 

“Nobody. Just some new kid in my neighborhood,” Taekwoon said, not stopping or looking back.

“He’s cute,” said Hakyeon.

“He’s annoying,” said Taekwoon under his breath, knowing Hakyeon would disapprove of him making a comment like that. 

“Hi there! Did you wanna walk with us to school?” 

Taekwoon cringed internally as he heard Hakyeon talking to the kid. He still didn’t look at him, and he didn’t want to. He’d spent his whole summer looking at him, and listening to him blabber on about cartoons, and forcing himself to play with him despite their age gap to appease his mother, and sharing his snacks with him, and having him over for lunch and dinner, and making sure he didn’t go running out into the street to chase after every stray soccer ball, and he was sick of him. He’d finally been able to relax after Hakyeon returned from vacationing with his family, but of course that only lasted for about two seconds.

“Here,” Hakyeon said with a smile, holding out his hand. Beaming, the boy took Hakyeon’s hand and then reached over and grabbed Taekwoon’s, much to the older boy’s surprise. Taekwoon turned to him with wide eyes. 

“What’s your name?” asked Hakyeon. 

~~~  
“Sanghyuk!” 

At hearing his name called, Sanghyuk stood up from tying his shoe, noticeably towering over the others around him. 

Hongbin was talking to Wonshik in the middle of the field, and had called Sanghyuk over.

“Gimme a sec!” Sanghyuk shouted back, and Taekwoon noted that his voice had gotten a lot deeper since he’d last seen him. Admittedly that had been around four years ago and Sanghyuk’s voice hadn’t even finished changing yet.

With one hand Sanghyuk pulled his shirt over his head, and Taekwoon caught himself staring at the broad expanse of his bare back before Sanghyuk pulled on a T-shirt with their university’s mascot on it, tugging it down as he jogged out onto the field toward Hongbin and Wonshik.

He still hadn’t noticed Taekwoon yet.

~~~  
Taekwoon stood there, holding the packaged cap and gown he’d just picked up from the main office, breathing heavily, his eyes screwed shut in frustration. He probably shouldn’t have yelled, but he had so many other things to deal with right now and Hakyeon was waiting for him outside and he just didn’t need this right now. He was done.

The younger boy stood a few feet in front of him, staring at the floor. He shifted his weight onto his other foot and gripped the straps of his backpack nervously before chancing a glance back up at Taekwoon, who was still significantly taller than him. Not much had changed about the two over the years, except that as a teenager Taekwoon finally had an excuse for his brooding personality, and that Sanghyuk had some pretty bad acne now and started wearing glasses just before starting high school. Everything else, though, was basically the same. And Taekwoon was sick of it now more than ever. He was graduating, and of the many things he was happy to leave behind, Sanghyuk was at the top of that list.

“Daeguni, I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to--”

“And for the last time,” Taekwoon cut in, speaking through gritted teeth. “Stop calling me that.”

Sanghyuk kept quiet, still staring with an apologetic look in his eyes. Taekwoon broke eye contact, turning to leave, and walked out of the school without looking back.

~~~  
After warming up they were going to do scrimmaging, and Sanghyuk and Taekwoon were on the same team. 

Everyone came together to get their vests and split up into their two teams, hunter green on one side and bright gold on the other. Taekwoon stood patiently at the back, waiting to grab his vest when one appeared in front of him, held out by a large but strangely familiar hand. 

“Taekwoon-hyung,” Sanghyuk said, acknowledging him as he held it out. 

_Taekwoon-hyung_. Sanghyuk had never called him that before, not in all the time they'd known each other, all those years ago. It had a formal ring to it. Foreign, almost. The first words he'd heard from Sanghyuk in four years and they felt oddly cold for some reason.

Taekwoon looked up at Sanghyuk (had he ever needed to look _up_ at him before?) and was met with a small grin. It was polite, but still had a kindness to it that melted away the edges of the formality, just a tiny bit. It's not like Sanghyuk would've forgotten him.

“Thanks,” Taekwoon finally muttered, but by the time the word came out Sanghyuk had already turned away and was talking to someone else; Taekwoon had almost dropped the vest because Sanghyuk let go of it too soon. 

Practice went normally that day but something still felt off to Taekwoon, and he didn’t know what. It was as if something was bothering him, but there wasn’t anything wrong. Strange.

“Taekwoon?” 

“What?”

“Are you coming with us to eat?” Hakyeon asked again, mopping sweat from his neck with a small towel. They were in the locker room now.

“Yeah, sure,” said Taekwoon. He opened his water bottle and drank.

“ _You punk!_ ” Hysterical laughter could be heard from the other side of the room. Taekwoon recognized the loud voice as Jaehwan’s. 

“You totally fell for it too!” he heard Hongbin say, still laughing.

“Well, my work here is done.” _Sanghyuk_. “Damn, I’m late. Gotta go, see you guys!”

Taekwoon heard a locker door slam shut and was pulling a towel out of his own locker when Sanghyuk came around the corner and walked right past him. Before he could stop himself he glanced back as Sanghyuk was exiting the locker room, inserting ear buds and looking at his phone as he went.

It was as if he didn’t even see Taekwoon.

And he didn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! ^^


End file.
